LAIST.COM - It was Jan. 11 — the first Saturday after the two huge L.A. fires broke out.
The city was thick with haze and smoke; ash was twirling in the air, and somehow, despite it all, our myth-making sunset still shone through.
I was heading home to El Sereno that afternoon, made a turn, and slammed on the brakes.
Fifty to 100 tumbleweeds had parked themselves along Multnomah Street, extending to the hillside above.
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Russian thistles, better known as tumbleweeds, arrived in South Dakota in the 1870s most likely via a shipment of flaxseeds from Russia that was contaminated with the invasive seeds.
"Then those tumbleweeds just spread across the western United States and they've found a great home here in California," said Mark Hoddle, an invasive species expert at UC Riverside.